On the outskirts of the holy kingdom of Lishlua, in the corner of the open land in the middle of the highest peak on the continent, there was an unusually large structure that seemed to rival the temple.
It was a cylindrical tower that was able to see the top of the sacred mountain.
The five-story tower was very different from the rest of the city, partly because it was located outside the city.
It was a structure located on the rocky surface of the sacred mountain, surrounded by nature, where no human hands had reached before.
It was made of stone, and the stone was still colored white, and the weeds, insects, and dirt from the wind and rain were not noticeable, indicating that it had not been built for a very long time.
Not many people come in and out of the structure, at most twice a day to pick up food and the "goods" on the back of the wagon.
However, even though few people were coming and going, the place was heavily guarded.
Two soldiers armed with iron armor and spears were always standing at the entrance, and at least five soldiers were stationed on the first floor of the tower.
The first floor of the tower.
The area was quite large.
The number of people was small, but there was enough room for thirty people to stay in the tower. Perhaps it was because there were soldiers stationed on guard duty on the first floor, but one couldn't help but notice the equipment.
It was not just the spears that the soldiers were holding in their hands.
Swords, axes, armors, shields, and medicinal herbs. And food. Preserved food for use in emergencies was also kept in the storage room in the basement.
Of course, there were no houses around, so they had to cook their own meals.
There was also a kitchen, and the wagons that come twice a day carry about half of their cargo in the form of food.
At the entrance of the tower, a woman was visiting.
Her beautiful blond hair was tied up in a braid, and she was dressed in black innerwear and white and blue vestments.
Jenna.
Jenna, known as the "Saint", was the most popular woman in the city.
When the soldier on guard saw her, he straightened his posture and gave a polite bow like a warrior priest working for the church.
"Good morning, Jenna-sama."
"I've heard you are coming. Warrior Kara is waiting for you in her room on the fourth floor."
Knowing that Jenna would be coming, the soldiers quickly told her what they wanted to say and opened the way to the entrance.
The entrance to the tower.
They opened the wooden door with the same familiar motion and invited Jenna in.
"Thank you. Thank you for your hard work."
They didn't respond to her words but simply bowed reverently.
She bowed more deeply than before to show her gratitude.
When Jenna entered, the three soldiers who were guarding on the first floor were relaxing. When they noticed Jenna, they hurriedly stood up and also bowed.
Jenna returned the bow and took the stairs at the back of the first floor to the second floor.
The second floor was a completely different world.
More than a dozen men and women dressed not in armor but vestments were sitting on chairs, facing desks, and doing "something".
Jenna, who only knew the wisdom of "this world", did not know what it was.
One of them was carefully peeling off the thin skin of a common herb that grew everywhere, while another was using a glass aspirator―― using an equipment to collect nectar from a blood-red flower.
(It's Agacia flower)
At first glance, Jenna realized what the red flower was.
It was a flower that bloomed on the sacred mountain, even higher than the hillside where the city and the tower were located.
The high altitude made it difficult to collect, but it was not a rare flower.
The people on the second floor were immersed in the task at hand, concentrating so hard that they didn't even notice Jenna had entered the floor.
Jenna moved out of the way, making as little noise as possible with her footsteps.
...She was curious about what they were doing though and stole a look at the materials they were using for some of the tasks.
But none of them were uncommon.
There were wound medicines that could be found all over the mountain, and flowers that could be used to make antipyretics.
Some of the more unusual ones were fever medicines from the neighboring country of Grabalt, and herbs from the distant elven country of Fonteau, but they were known to be effective, and Jenna had no idea what they mean for.
Medicinal herbs were medicinal herbs.
A fever remedy was just a fever remedy, that was all she could think of.
So she moved to the third floor, and now, it was not herbs, but beasts. Animals.
In particular, many of them were small creatures like rats.
Jenna, who had been to the place several times, knew what they were called.
Guinea pig. Experimental animal.
...... No, it was Jenna who taught that name to the administrator of the tower. To be precise, it was a word that the "hero" used from time to time when describing his world.
She just told her that.
However, the tower's administrator liked the name so much that the small animal, originally named Mortia, was now called guinea pig in the tower.
They were numerous and highly fertile.
Moreover, they come to the houses in the holy capital, which was located high up on the sacred mountain, in search of food. They were small animals with strong jaws and teeth that could chew through wood.
The guinea pig was given a small amount of something green in its mouth to drink from a syringe, a glass tube with a needle attached to the end.
Jenna's intuition told her that the green "something" must have been made on the second floor.
The guinea pig was flailing about, perhaps wary of the strange green liquid.
The guinea pig was about the size of the palm of a person's hand, it was easily grasped, but was difficult to restrain when it was rampaging.
The male staff member holding it down grasped the guinea pig with both hands to prevent it from escaping, and when he exerted himself, the guinea pig squealed in pain and became even more violent.
Jenna felt sorry for the little animal, but it soon calmed down.
Jenna knew that the reason was the green liquid that it had just been given.
However, even Jenna, who had traveled all over the world, did not know of any medicine that could make a rampaging small animal suddenly calm down.
Looking at it sideways, she went to the fourth floor.
This time, there were no herbs or guinea pigs.
It was staffed by people of higher rank than those who had been on the third floor, and they were looking over the papers on their desks.
When they noticed that Jenna had climbed up, they stood up and gave a neat bow, as did the soldiers on guard.
"Jenna-sama―― Ah, are you visiting Kara-sama?."
"Yes. I'm sorry to have disturbed you."
She nodded at the man who held up a cross, the one that was used to identify someone in the temple. Jenna said and bowed.
The staff members bowed again, and one of them...... the lowest-ranking man in the room, led the way to the room where the administrator named Kara was waiting.
He knocked twice.
After waiting for a while, there was no answer, so he knocked twice more.......
"Kara-sama, Jenna-sama has asked for you."
And twice more.
After a short pause, a reply from inside the room said, "It's okay to come in".
"Jeez... I'm sorry, She was such a sloppy person."
"Fufu. It's okay. Good luck with your work."
Jenna bowed politely to the male employee who showed her to the room.
Her braided hair swayed, and a faint, fresh, feminine scent tickled the male staff member's nose.
It was a slightly expensive perfume that she used as part of her grooming.
It was something she use all the time when going out in public, and it was not that unusual, but it was a stimulating smell for the male staff who spent most of his time in the tower.
Yes, the smell.
"Ah, that's right."
Normally, he would have been aware of Jenna's good looks and fresh scent, whether he was of the opposite sex or the same sex.
Jenna's soft smile and cool scent had that much appeal.
But more than that, what the man was aware of was his intuition. It was the first thing he felt. It was what she honestly thought.
The odor. The scent. The smell.
After muttering the same thing a few times, he mumbled 'yes', gave one last polite bow, and walked quickly back to his desk.
"Let's see……"
She was a little embarrassed by his behavior, but quickly regained her composure and walked into the room where a woman named Kara was waiting.
"……Excuse me"
"Ah, you're late."
That was the first thing she said.
One could tell she was a close friend by that comment, and by the fact that she didn't even look at Jenna as she entered the room, but was concentrating on her desk.
She had a small back.
She was short, partly because she was sitting in a chair, but even without that, she was short. Even standing up, one could see that she was probably only about at Jenna's chest.
Her waist-length chestnut hair was unkempt and shaggy, and the white coat she wore was wrinkled.
Her white skin, which looked as though it had never been exposed to the sun, was peeking out from between her hair, and her legs, which were wrapped in black stockings, were "sloppy", but she didn't seem to mind at all.
Kara.
She was the chief administrator of the tower, and a self-proclaimed "scientist".
In a world where science didn't exist, she called herself a title from another world.
The reason for that was also simple.
In the same way that the rat, Mortia, was called a guinea pig, the title of the scientist was also a word that came up with her conversation with the hero, and a word that Jenna taught Kara.
Science.
A technology from the other world, which Jenna herself did not understand well.
To be precise, science was not technology.
Why was the fire hot? Why couldn't they catch the wind? Why did the earth nurture life?
Investigating such things and knowing why things happen was one aspect of science.
However, it was only one aspect, and even the hero from the other world was not able to explain the full extent of "science", and there was no way that Jenna, a resident of this world where such a word did not exist in the first place, could understand it.
However, "to know". To investigate.
And then, to make the self-proclaimed word into a word that everyone could use―― Kara liked the word very much when it was explained to her.
Because she thought that it was necessary for the future of this world.
Magic, divine power...... to know them, to explain them, put them down in writing, and make them available for everyone to use.
It was the idea that a world without the natural enemy of mankind, the demon king, must move forward one step at a time―― that was the "scientist image" held by the woman who was called the most eccentric person in the holy kingdom of Lishlua.
Jenna didn't like to give that kind of evaluation to people, but she couldn't help but nod in the corner of her mind that it was certainly natural for many people to feel that way when they see her.
Kara responded to the people who came to visit her, just like she didn't look at Jenna for a second.
She seemed to be more interested in the "thing" on her desk.
Jenna knew that, and coughed once.
"I came to ask you about yesterday, were you busy?"
"No. I heard that a monster broke through the barrier of the city. I was 'told' the story, but I suppose it happens sometimes."
Her cocky, boyish way of speaking, combined with her small stature and high-pitched voice that sounded as though it had just been changed, seemed to fit well with Kara.
She had a neutral voice, though she would probably hate it if she told her so.
The fact that she was so focused on what was in front of her that she couldn't pay attention to anything else was like a boy's response, and as an older person, she should be angry at her for not being polite, but she couldn't help but smile.
"I heard that it had entered the barrier using a human body. That's amazing. I never thought of that."
"Don't be impressed. A monster had appeared that could pass through Goddess Fasalina's barrier, you know?"
Jenna was taken aback by how truly, truly impressed she sounded.
The Goddess Barrier.
It was the last line of defense that protected the City of God. It was the main reason why the people from the city and the refugees from Fonteau, who have no power to fight, could live in peace despite being frightened by monsters. A stronghold.
If it was breached, the safety of the city would be disrupted. When Jenna heard the report of the monsters this morning, she felt a chill run down her spine.
However, Kara's tone was more of enjoyment...... or admiration.
At that, Jenna, who always had a calm heart, became more forceful in her tone.
......But she didn't care about that, all she cared about was that "something" on her desk.
"Kara, what have you been doing since earlier?"
In a strong tone of voice, Jenna moved behind Kara in her chair and peered over the top at the "something" she was concentrating on.
It was a document.
"It's a report from the warrior priest who encountered the monster yesterday. It seems that two of the three were killed."
"...I see. It's tragic."
"There's an interesting description in there."
Kara said that without seeming to care that people had died, and then she flipped through the bundle of reports and read them at a great speed.
"Interesting description?"
"Recently, I've been giving some of the younger members of the warrior corps some new medicines."
"...You're being so selfish again. The bishops are going to be very angry with you, right?"
"Yeah, they got pissed off when I tried to give them some new tools. They were pissed, so I secretly gave it to them."
"...haah."
Jenna let out a deep sigh but didn't say anything else.
The tower that Kara was in charge of was called the "Experimental Tower".
As the name suggested, it was a tower where experiments were conducted.
And that experiment was to convert the Goddess' divine power, which Jenna and the other priests use to heal wounds and cure illnesses, into an attack.
Until now, the power of the Goddess was thought of as a healing power, but Kara was the first person in the world who had found a way to reverse the power of the Goddess.
People in the world were still unaware of the true nature of magic, but healing magic was the healing of wounds and illnesses by restoring and revitalizing cells.
However, if it was reversed, it would disintegrate the cells and suppress their activity, making them vulnerable to disease―― in other words, a dangerous power that affected life itself.
Kara was the "scientist" who noticed that effect.
The divine power of the goddess was the power to revitalize the vitality of life.
Whether it was to heal wounds or cure diseases, it turned the "life" of a living being into power by making it stronger and burning it violently with life as fuel.
Therefore, it had no effect on the dead, and it had little effect on the elderly who have little life left.
Above all, the more someone used it, the less "life" one's have, the shorter that one's life would be.
Although no one was aware of it until now, many of the priests had short lives. While ordinary people live for more than seventy years and reach the end of their lives, the priests live for sixty years at most. Some end their lives much shorter.
......Some of them just sit in their positions and call themselves priests.
That aside.
It revitalized life. It was the essence of the goddess's divine power―― her healing magic.
"The other day, I came up with an idea for a tool. I wanted to see if it would work against monsters, so I gave it to some of the younger guys. I had heard that slimes were becoming more and more active."
"It's unethical, Kara."
"Yes, yes. So yesterday, the slime had a run-in with a warrior who had the tool."
Kara was reading the report from Alp, an apprentice warrior priest.
To be precise, a third party wrote down the story of how Alp and the other two encountered the slime and the results.
"Apparently, the new tool I came up with was effective against the slime. They don't have noses, but they're sensitive to smells."
"Is that so?"
"Thanks to that one apprentice warrior priest, it was able to help me and share information like this. Haha, I'll never forget the look on the face of the bishop's messenger who brought me this document. He was glaring at me and thanking me."
"...It's in a bad taste."
"Which is it? As the Demon King fell, the value of swords, spears, and other martial arts would continue to decline. It was the time when healing and its application would be important. And yet, they still want to use me as a "mere" warrior priest... That's insulting. Do they understand me much better than I understand myself?"
Kara said and finally turned her head toward Jenna.
Their eyes met.
Beautiful, deep yellow eyes. Jenna's beautiful eyes look as though she had been looking at a twilight.
What adorned her eyes were a pair of glasses with large, thick, black rims. The glasses were so large that they almost cover a quarter of her small face.
Even from behind, she could see that her unkempt bangs slightly obscured her eyes, and her dusk-colored eyes peeked through the gaps.
When she was a child, her talent with the sword was recognized and she was invited to join a noble family from her position as a commoner.
That was the woman named Kara.
She was expected to make a name for herself as a warrior priestess, but her talent blossomed rapidly, and by the time she was 16, she was considered a genius swordswoman, known to no one in the holy kingdom of Lishlua.
……But from that time on, she was losing her passion for the sword.
In a world where the demon king had been defeated and the number of monsters continued to decrease.
She wondered if there was any point in training her sword skills in such a world... When she thought about it, the last thing she did was "murder", by swinging her sword against criminals, and she was fed up with it.
In fact, as a conquest, she had repeatedly defeated bandits and others who attacked villages in the surrounding areas.
Not all of them, but a few of them have been killed by cutting off their heads and piercing their chests.
...When she got sick of it, she let go of her sword.
It was not that she lost her grip.
Even today, the genius was still alive and well, and a long sword adorned the wall of the room.
She may be small in stature, but underneath her clothes, she was well-trained, and even swing a sword every day to get exercise. Sometimes she didn't, though.
But she didn't pick it up.
The famous sword on the wall hadn't been removed from its scabbard for several years.
A wooden sword was lying in the corner of the room.
And so, after struggling with the sword, she thought of a path not as a "warrior" but as a "scientist".
She was originally a talented swordswoman, but now she began to study pharmacology and mineralogy, and the people around her were impressed that she was aiming to become a hero with both a literary and military background.
How does it work on the human body? What will be the result?
......How to further strengthen its effect. And how to neutralize an enemy.
Paralysis and sleep―― the so-called "poison".
The word "poison" may give a bad impression, but in small doses, paralyzing poison could be used as an anesthetic to relieve pain, and sleeping poison could help those who were suffering from insomnia.
It was a "medicine".
In a world where curing was done through magic was the norm until now, the person who invented the "medicine" that could be used even if magic was not available...... Kara was the first person to do so.
It was an idea that was not recognized or understood right now, but Jenna realized its importance and began to support her...... They have been friends since then.
It's been over five years now.
"The divine power of the Goddess is that it activates the life force and is repulsive to the power of the Demon King. It's a simple power."
"That's what you're always saying."
"That's why the power of the Demon King―― the monster's cells and blood―― and when mixed with it, it will have the exact opposite effect. For example, the Agacia flower. It has a nerve-sensitizing effect, and if you infuse it and drink it, you will temporarily become hypersensitive to pain. However, if you mix it with the blood of a monster and the divine power from the goddess, the effect is reversed and your sense of pain is temporarily dulled...... This is the raw material for the "paralyzing drug" I came up with."
"......Is that the green liquid they were experimenting on the guinea pigs downstairs?"
"What, you've been watching? It's an increase in the amount of monster blood. I want to know how effective the goddess's divine power is."
As she listened to the explanation, she remembered what she had just said and asked her about it, and she said it plainly without any particular thought.
"I feel sorry for the guinea pig."
"I can't help it. Somewhere along the line, an experiment has to be tried on a living organism―― the scientists just have to try to make it "safe"."
"……Yes"
Unable to either agree or disagree with these words, Jenna simply said, "Yes.
Jenna knew that Kara's experiment would benefit the people.
And she had a feeling that the results of her research would change the world in the future, so Jenna began to support her experiments.
It was a forbidden experiment, reversing the power of the goddess, but Jenna supported it, and Kara was able to produce results.
By reversing the power of the goddess and using it as a means of attack, the power of the goddess, which until now had only been used for recovery, could now be used for attack.
Thanks to that, in the past few years, the damage received by warrior priests in battle with monsters and bandits had decreased dramatically.
Even though they could use magic for recovery, their only means of attack was to step forward and attack with their mace or sword.
Perhaps it was because the warriors from the holy kingdom had been exposed to the power of the goddess, but they were not good at offensive magic. It could almost be said that they were useless.
However, as a result of Kara's research, an attack tool was created, and attack magic could be activated by simply throwing a bottle. Well, it was only as powerful as low-grade, weak magic.
Still, it was good.
And the experiment would continue to progress.
"That aside. According to the report, the slime has learned how to enter the barrier......"
"It says that it invaded... and also escaped from the barrier."
"It got in once. I think we should assume that it will be breached again and again."
"...Yes. I'd like to think that yesterday's intrusion was just a coincidence."
"You should always think about the "worst" case scenario. What would you do if we are still fighting against the demon king?"
Jenna smiled bitterly at Kara's nasty question.
"The bishop's messenger who came last night didn't understand that. Probably not even the bishops. They're thinking that it was just a coincidence and hoping the barrier won't be breached again―― all I can do is think of a tool that will work on the slime right away."
With that said, Kara got up from her chair.
This time, she turned to face Jenna with her whole body.
She had long, unkempt hair and unblemished white skin.
She was dressed in a wrinkled white lab coat that reached her ankles and a white blouse. Dressed in shorts for ease of movement, black stockings, and leather boots.
Jenna thought it was typical of Kara that she was dressed only for practical use, without any feminine appeal.
Her height was only about Jenna's chest, and her shoulders were narrow.
If her hair were shorter, she would have the appearance of a boy. Her breasts were small, but her waist, cinched by the belt of her shorts, was rich, and her black stockings adorned her beautiful legs, which had been worked out to the point where they were almost lean.
Kara raised her colorless black-rimmed glasses with her right hand fingers and began to prepare to go out.
"Are you going to think about it now?"
"I'm already thinking. I've already thought about it. The tools I gave the apprentice seemed to work, and now I've prepared something a little more effective."
"...That's fast."
"I like to think, and this is my chance to test the effects on a real monster. So I'm putting off the work I was doing."
She said as she was looking at her desk.
Among the many papers, unfamiliar plant leaves and glass research tools were strewn about.
There was one in particular.
In a test tube, there was a purple liquid that looked harmful to the body.
"Is that the work you were taking on?"
"Ah. It's from the bishop...... Well, it was the bishop's servant who ordered it, but I guess he ordered him so that the bishop's identity wouldn't be revealed."
Jenna had no idea what Kara was getting at.
While she was doing so, Kara put some test tubes at her waist belt and hung a sword from the wall at the other hip.
"It's an aphrodisiac. I've never made anything like an aphrodisiac before, so it's like a powerful stimulant."
“…………”
At first, Jenna couldn't understand what Kara was talking about.
Rather than being surprised, when she looked at her for an explanation. However, the expression was gone from her beautiful face, and she was filled with contempt for the person who had ordered it.
Perhaps amused by her reaction, Kara wiped her glasses and explained while checking her clothes properly. She didn't hear it though.
It was no exaggeration to say that the seat of the "bishop" consists of several people who control the religion.
The person in charge of that position had asked a "scientist" for a magic potion called an "aphrodisiac". It was disturbing.
It was interesting to see such a discrepancy between its inner and outer image. It was so funny that she couldn't help but laugh at it.
"……Filthy."
"Haha. Don't say that, Saint. If men and women don't get in the mood, the human race won't multiply―― even if it is an old man about to reach 80 years old and can't suppress his instincts. Even if he gets excited, if the woman doesn't come into heat, it's a meaningless feeling. It's only natural that such an old man would want a tool to get a woman in heat."
Hehe*.
Kara laughed, sincerely amused, and left the room, shaking her long, unkempt hair.
Jenna followed her back with her eyes, and once again looked at the aphrodisiac on the desk as though she were looking at dirt before following her.
"Ah, the potion. Are you sure it's okay to leave it on the desk?"
"It's fine. I'm the only one who knows how to make it, so they can't duplicate it――"
After saying that, Kara pointed to her head, squinting behind her glasses.
"I know how to make it, it's in my head. I don't want to tell anyone how to make something like that, because I'm a woman too."
With that, Jenna and Kara left the research tower.
They were heading to the place where Alp and her companions had been attacked by the slime.
On the outskirts of the holy kingdom of Lishlua, in the corner of the open land in the middle of the highest peak on the continent, there was an unusually large structure that seemed to rival the temple.
It was a cylindrical tower that was able to see the top of the sacred mountain.
The five-story tower was very different from the rest of the city, partly because it was located outside the city.
It was a structure located on the rocky surface of the sacred mountain, surrounded by nature, where no human hands had reached before.
It was made of stone, and the stone was still colored white, and the weeds, insects, and dirt from the wind and rain were not noticeable, indicating that it had not been built for a very long time.
Not many people come in and out of the structure, at most twice a day to pick up food and the "goods" on the back of the wagon.
However, even though few people were coming and going, the place was heavily guarded.
Two soldiers armed with iron armor and spears were always standing at the entrance, and at least five soldiers were stationed on the first floor of the tower.
The first floor of the tower.
The area was quite large.
The number of people was small, but there was enough room for thirty people to stay in the tower. Perhaps it was because there were soldiers stationed on guard duty on the first floor, but one couldn't help but notice the equipment.
It was not just the spears that the soldiers were holding in their hands.
Swords, axes, armors, shields, and medicinal herbs. And food. Preserved food for use in emergencies was also kept in the storage room in the basement.
Of course, there were no houses around, so they had to cook their own meals.
There was also a kitchen, and the wagons that come twice a day carry about half of their cargo in the form of food.
At the entrance of the tower, a woman was visiting.
Her beautiful blond hair was tied up in a braid, and she was dressed in black innerwear and white and blue vestments.
Jenna.
Jenna, known as the "Saint", was the most popular woman in the city.
When the soldier on guard saw her, he straightened his posture and gave a polite bow like a warrior priest working for the church.
"Good morning, Jenna-sama."
"I've heard you are coming. Warrior Kara is waiting for you in her room on the fourth floor."
Knowing that Jenna would be coming, the soldiers quickly told her what they wanted to say and opened the way to the entrance.
The entrance to the tower.
They opened the wooden door with the same familiar motion and invited Jenna in.
"Thank you. Thank you for your hard work."
They didn't respond to her words but simply bowed reverently.
She bowed more deeply than before to show her gratitude.
When Jenna entered, the three soldiers who were guarding on the first floor were relaxing. When they noticed Jenna, they hurriedly stood up and also bowed.
Jenna returned the bow and took the stairs at the back of the first floor to the second floor.
The second floor was a completely different world.
More than a dozen men and women dressed not in armor but vestments were sitting on chairs, facing desks, and doing "something".
Jenna, who only knew the wisdom of "this world", did not know what it was.
One of them was carefully peeling off the thin skin of a common herb that grew everywhere, while another was using a glass aspirator―― using an equipment to collect nectar from a blood-red flower.
(It's Agacia flower)
At first glance, Jenna realized what the red flower was.
It was a flower that bloomed on the sacred mountain, even higher than the hillside where the city and the tower were located.
The high altitude made it difficult to collect, but it was not a rare flower.
The people on the second floor were immersed in the task at hand, concentrating so hard that they didn't even notice Jenna had entered the floor.
Jenna moved out of the way, making as little noise as possible with her footsteps.
...She was curious about what they were doing though and stole a look at the materials they were using for some of the tasks.
But none of them were uncommon.
There were wound medicines that could be found all over the mountain, and flowers that could be used to make antipyretics.
Some of the more unusual ones were fever medicines from the neighboring country of Grabalt, and herbs from the distant elven country of Fonteau, but they were known to be effective, and Jenna had no idea what they mean for.
Medicinal herbs were medicinal herbs.
A fever remedy was just a fever remedy, that was all she could think of.
So she moved to the third floor, and now, it was not herbs, but beasts. Animals.
In particular, many of them were small creatures like rats.
Jenna, who had been to the place several times, knew what they were called.
Guinea pig. Experimental animal.
...... No, it was Jenna who taught that name to the administrator of the tower. To be precise, it was a word that the "hero" used from time to time when describing his world.
She just told her that.
However, the tower's administrator liked the name so much that the small animal, originally named Mortia, was now called guinea pig in the tower.
They were numerous and highly fertile.
Moreover, they come to the houses in the holy capital, which was located high up on the sacred mountain, in search of food. They were small animals with strong jaws and teeth that could chew through wood.
The guinea pig was given a small amount of something green in its mouth to drink from a syringe, a glass tube with a needle attached to the end.
Jenna's intuition told her that the green "something" must have been made on the second floor.
The guinea pig was flailing about, perhaps wary of the strange green liquid.
The guinea pig was about the size of the palm of a person's hand, it was easily grasped, but was difficult to restrain when it was rampaging.
The male staff member holding it down grasped the guinea pig with both hands to prevent it from escaping, and when he exerted himself, the guinea pig squealed in pain and became even more violent.
Jenna felt sorry for the little animal, but it soon calmed down.
Jenna knew that the reason was the green liquid that it had just been given.
However, even Jenna, who had traveled all over the world, did not know of any medicine that could make a rampaging small animal suddenly calm down.
Looking at it sideways, she went to the fourth floor.
This time, there were no herbs or guinea pigs.
It was staffed by people of higher rank than those who had been on the third floor, and they were looking over the papers on their desks.
When they noticed that Jenna had climbed up, they stood up and gave a neat bow, as did the soldiers on guard.
"Jenna-sama―― Ah, are you visiting Kara-sama?."
"Yes. I'm sorry to have disturbed you."
She nodded at the man who held up a cross, the one that was used to identify someone in the temple. Jenna said and bowed.
The staff members bowed again, and one of them...... the lowest-ranking man in the room, led the way to the room where the administrator named Kara was waiting.
He knocked twice.
After waiting for a while, there was no answer, so he knocked twice more.......
"Kara-sama, Jenna-sama has asked for you."
And twice more.
After a short pause, a reply from inside the room said, "It's okay to come in".
"Jeez... I'm sorry, She was such a sloppy person."
"Fufu. It's okay. Good luck with your work."
Jenna bowed politely to the male employee who showed her to the room.
Her braided hair swayed, and a faint, fresh, feminine scent tickled the male staff member's nose.
It was a slightly expensive perfume that she used as part of her grooming.
It was something she use all the time when going out in public, and it was not that unusual, but it was a stimulating smell for the male staff who spent most of his time in the tower.
Yes, the smell.
"Ah, that's right."
Normally, he would have been aware of Jenna's good looks and fresh scent, whether he was of the opposite sex or the same sex.
Jenna's soft smile and cool scent had that much appeal.
But more than that, what the man was aware of was his intuition. It was the first thing he felt. It was what she honestly thought.
The odor. The scent. The smell.
After muttering the same thing a few times, he mumbled 'yes', gave one last polite bow, and walked quickly back to his desk.
"Let's see……"
She was a little embarrassed by his behavior, but quickly regained her composure and walked into the room where a woman named Kara was waiting.
"……Excuse me"
"Ah, you're late."
That was the first thing she said.
One could tell she was a close friend by that comment, and by the fact that she didn't even look at Jenna as she entered the room, but was concentrating on her desk.
She had a small back.
She was short, partly because she was sitting in a chair, but even without that, she was short. Even standing up, one could see that she was probably only about at Jenna's chest.
Her waist-length chestnut hair was unkempt and shaggy, and the white coat she wore was wrinkled.
Her white skin, which looked as though it had never been exposed to the sun, was peeking out from between her hair, and her legs, which were wrapped in black stockings, were "sloppy", but she didn't seem to mind at all.
Kara.
She was the chief administrator of the tower, and a self-proclaimed "scientist".
In a world where science didn't exist, she called herself a title from another world.
The reason for that was also simple.
In the same way that the rat, Mortia, was called a guinea pig, the title of the scientist was also a word that came up with her conversation with the hero, and a word that Jenna taught Kara.
Science.
A technology from the other world, which Jenna herself did not understand well.
To be precise, science was not technology.
Why was the fire hot? Why couldn't they catch the wind? Why did the earth nurture life?
Investigating such things and knowing why things happen was one aspect of science.
However, it was only one aspect, and even the hero from the other world was not able to explain the full extent of "science", and there was no way that Jenna, a resident of this world where such a word did not exist in the first place, could understand it.
However, "to know". To investigate.
And then, to make the self-proclaimed word into a word that everyone could use―― Kara liked the word very much when it was explained to her.
Because she thought that it was necessary for the future of this world.
Magic, divine power...... to know them, to explain them, put them down in writing, and make them available for everyone to use.
It was the idea that a world without the natural enemy of mankind, the demon king, must move forward one step at a time―― that was the "scientist image" held by the woman who was called the most eccentric person in the holy kingdom of Lishlua.
Jenna didn't like to give that kind of evaluation to people, but she couldn't help but nod in the corner of her mind that it was certainly natural for many people to feel that way when they see her.
Kara responded to the people who came to visit her, just like she didn't look at Jenna for a second.
She seemed to be more interested in the "thing" on her desk.
Jenna knew that, and coughed once.
"I came to ask you about yesterday, were you busy?"
"No. I heard that a monster broke through the barrier of the city. I was 'told' the story, but I suppose it happens sometimes."
Her cocky, boyish way of speaking, combined with her small stature and high-pitched voice that sounded as though it had just been changed, seemed to fit well with Kara.
She had a neutral voice, though she would probably hate it if she told her so.
The fact that she was so focused on what was in front of her that she couldn't pay attention to anything else was like a boy's response, and as an older person, she should be angry at her for not being polite, but she couldn't help but smile.
"I heard that it had entered the barrier using a human body. That's amazing. I never thought of that."
"Don't be impressed. A monster had appeared that could pass through Goddess Fasalina's barrier, you know?"
Jenna was taken aback by how truly, truly impressed she sounded.
The Goddess Barrier.
It was the last line of defense that protected the City of God. It was the main reason why the people from the city and the refugees from Fonteau, who have no power to fight, could live in peace despite being frightened by monsters. A stronghold.
If it was breached, the safety of the city would be disrupted. When Jenna heard the report of the monsters this morning, she felt a chill run down her spine.
However, Kara's tone was more of enjoyment...... or admiration.
At that, Jenna, who always had a calm heart, became more forceful in her tone.
......But she didn't care about that, all she cared about was that "something" on her desk.
"Kara, what have you been doing since earlier?"
In a strong tone of voice, Jenna moved behind Kara in her chair and peered over the top at the "something" she was concentrating on.
It was a document.
"It's a report from the warrior priest who encountered the monster yesterday. It seems that two of the three were killed."
"...I see. It's tragic."
"There's an interesting description in there."
Kara said that without seeming to care that people had died, and then she flipped through the bundle of reports and read them at a great speed.
"Interesting description?"
"Recently, I've been giving some of the younger members of the warrior corps some new medicines."
"...You're being so selfish again. The bishops are going to be very angry with you, right?"
"Yeah, they got pissed off when I tried to give them some new tools. They were pissed, so I secretly gave it to them."
"...haah."
Jenna let out a deep sigh but didn't say anything else.
The tower that Kara was in charge of was called the "Experimental Tower".
As the name suggested, it was a tower where experiments were conducted.
And that experiment was to convert the Goddess' divine power, which Jenna and the other priests use to heal wounds and cure illnesses, into an attack.
Until now, the power of the Goddess was thought of as a healing power, but Kara was the first person in the world who had found a way to reverse the power of the Goddess.
People in the world were still unaware of the true nature of magic, but healing magic was the healing of wounds and illnesses by restoring and revitalizing cells.
However, if it was reversed, it would disintegrate the cells and suppress their activity, making them vulnerable to disease―― in other words, a dangerous power that affected life itself.
Kara was the "scientist" who noticed that effect.
The divine power of the goddess was the power to revitalize the vitality of life.
Whether it was to heal wounds or cure diseases, it turned the "life" of a living being into power by making it stronger and burning it violently with life as fuel.
Therefore, it had no effect on the dead, and it had little effect on the elderly who have little life left.
Above all, the more someone used it, the less "life" one's have, the shorter that one's life would be.
Although no one was aware of it until now, many of the priests had short lives. While ordinary people live for more than seventy years and reach the end of their lives, the priests live for sixty years at most. Some end their lives much shorter.
......Some of them just sit in their positions and call themselves priests.
That aside.
It revitalized life. It was the essence of the goddess's divine power―― her healing magic.
"The other day, I came up with an idea for a tool. I wanted to see if it would work against monsters, so I gave it to some of the younger guys. I had heard that slimes were becoming more and more active."
"It's unethical, Kara."
"Yes, yes. So yesterday, the slime had a run-in with a warrior who had the tool."
Kara was reading the report from Alp, an apprentice warrior priest.
To be precise, a third party wrote down the story of how Alp and the other two encountered the slime and the results.
"Apparently, the new tool I came up with was effective against the slime. They don't have noses, but they're sensitive to smells."
"Is that so?"
"Thanks to that one apprentice warrior priest, it was able to help me and share information like this. Haha, I'll never forget the look on the face of the bishop's messenger who brought me this document. He was glaring at me and thanking me."
"...It's in a bad taste."
"Which is it? As the Demon King fell, the value of swords, spears, and other martial arts would continue to decline. It was the time when healing and its application would be important. And yet, they still want to use me as a "mere" warrior priest... That's insulting. Do they understand me much better than I understand myself?"
Kara said and finally turned her head toward Jenna.
Their eyes met.
Beautiful, deep yellow eyes. Jenna's beautiful eyes look as though she had been looking at a twilight.
What adorned her eyes were a pair of glasses with large, thick, black rims. The glasses were so large that they almost cover a quarter of her small face.
Even from behind, she could see that her unkempt bangs slightly obscured her eyes, and her dusk-colored eyes peeked through the gaps.
When she was a child, her talent with the sword was recognized and she was invited to join a noble family from her position as a commoner.
That was the woman named Kara.
She was expected to make a name for herself as a warrior priestess, but her talent blossomed rapidly, and by the time she was 16, she was considered a genius swordswoman, known to no one in the holy kingdom of Lishlua.
……But from that time on, she was losing her passion for the sword.
In a world where the demon king had been defeated and the number of monsters continued to decrease.
She wondered if there was any point in training her sword skills in such a world... When she thought about it, the last thing she did was "murder", by swinging her sword against criminals, and she was fed up with it.
In fact, as a conquest, she had repeatedly defeated bandits and others who attacked villages in the surrounding areas.
Not all of them, but a few of them have been killed by cutting off their heads and piercing their chests.
...When she got sick of it, she let go of her sword.
It was not that she lost her grip.
Even today, the genius was still alive and well, and a long sword adorned the wall of the room.
She may be small in stature, but underneath her clothes, she was well-trained, and even swing a sword every day to get exercise. Sometimes she didn't, though.
But she didn't pick it up.
The famous sword on the wall hadn't been removed from its scabbard for several years.
A wooden sword was lying in the corner of the room.
And so, after struggling with the sword, she thought of a path not as a "warrior" but as a "scientist".
She was originally a talented swordswoman, but now she began to study pharmacology and mineralogy, and the people around her were impressed that she was aiming to become a hero with both a literary and military background.
How does it work on the human body? What will be the result?
......How to further strengthen its effect. And how to neutralize an enemy.
Paralysis and sleep―― the so-called "poison".
The word "poison" may give a bad impression, but in small doses, paralyzing poison could be used as an anesthetic to relieve pain, and sleeping poison could help those who were suffering from insomnia.
It was a "medicine".
In a world where curing was done through magic was the norm until now, the person who invented the "medicine" that could be used even if magic was not available...... Kara was the first person to do so.
It was an idea that was not recognized or understood right now, but Jenna realized its importance and began to support her...... They have been friends since then.
It's been over five years now.
"The divine power of the Goddess is that it activates the life force and is repulsive to the power of the Demon King. It's a simple power."
"That's what you're always saying."
"That's why the power of the Demon King―― the monster's cells and blood―― and when mixed with it, it will have the exact opposite effect. For example, the Agacia flower. It has a nerve-sensitizing effect, and if you infuse it and drink it, you will temporarily become hypersensitive to pain. However, if you mix it with the blood of a monster and the divine power from the goddess, the effect is reversed and your sense of pain is temporarily dulled...... This is the raw material for the "paralyzing drug" I came up with."
"......Is that the green liquid they were experimenting on the guinea pigs downstairs?"
"What, you've been watching? It's an increase in the amount of monster blood. I want to know how effective the goddess's divine power is."
As she listened to the explanation, she remembered what she had just said and asked her about it, and she said it plainly without any particular thought.
"I feel sorry for the guinea pig."
"I can't help it. Somewhere along the line, an experiment has to be tried on a living organism―― the scientists just have to try to make it "safe"."
"……Yes"
Unable to either agree or disagree with these words, Jenna simply said, "Yes.
Jenna knew that Kara's experiment would benefit the people.
And she had a feeling that the results of her research would change the world in the future, so Jenna began to support her experiments.
It was a forbidden experiment, reversing the power of the goddess, but Jenna supported it, and Kara was able to produce results.
By reversing the power of the goddess and using it as a means of attack, the power of the goddess, which until now had only been used for recovery, could now be used for attack.
Thanks to that, in the past few years, the damage received by warrior priests in battle with monsters and bandits had decreased dramatically.
Even though they could use magic for recovery, their only means of attack was to step forward and attack with their mace or sword.
Perhaps it was because the warriors from the holy kingdom had been exposed to the power of the goddess, but they were not good at offensive magic. It could almost be said that they were useless.
However, as a result of Kara's research, an attack tool was created, and attack magic could be activated by simply throwing a bottle. Well, it was only as powerful as low-grade, weak magic.
Still, it was good.
And the experiment would continue to progress.
"That aside. According to the report, the slime has learned how to enter the barrier......"
"It says that it invaded... and also escaped from the barrier."
"It got in once. I think we should assume that it will be breached again and again."
"...Yes. I'd like to think that yesterday's intrusion was just a coincidence."
"You should always think about the "worst" case scenario. What would you do if we are still fighting against the demon king?"
Jenna smiled bitterly at Kara's nasty question.
"The bishop's messenger who came last night didn't understand that. Probably not even the bishops. They're thinking that it was just a coincidence and hoping the barrier won't be breached again―― all I can do is think of a tool that will work on the slime right away."
With that said, Kara got up from her chair.
This time, she turned to face Jenna with her whole body.
She had long, unkempt hair and unblemished white skin.
She was dressed in a wrinkled white lab coat that reached her ankles and a white blouse. Dressed in shorts for ease of movement, black stockings, and leather boots.
Jenna thought it was typical of Kara that she was dressed only for practical use, without any feminine appeal.
Her height was only about Jenna's chest, and her shoulders were narrow.
If her hair were shorter, she would have the appearance of a boy. Her breasts were small, but her waist, cinched by the belt of her shorts, was rich, and her black stockings adorned her beautiful legs, which had been worked out to the point where they were almost lean.
Kara raised her colorless black-rimmed glasses with her right hand fingers and began to prepare to go out.
"Are you going to think about it now?"
"I'm already thinking. I've already thought about it. The tools I gave the apprentice seemed to work, and now I've prepared something a little more effective."
"...That's fast."
"I like to think, and this is my chance to test the effects on a real monster. So I'm putting off the work I was doing."
She said as she was looking at her desk.
Among the many papers, unfamiliar plant leaves and glass research tools were strewn about.
There was one in particular.
In a test tube, there was a purple liquid that looked harmful to the body.
"Is that the work you were taking on?"
"Ah. It's from the bishop...... Well, it was the bishop's servant who ordered it, but I guess he ordered him so that the bishop's identity wouldn't be revealed."
Jenna had no idea what Kara was getting at.
While she was doing so, Kara put some test tubes at her waist belt and hung a sword from the wall at the other hip.
"It's an aphrodisiac. I've never made anything like an aphrodisiac before, so it's like a powerful stimulant."
“…………”
At first, Jenna couldn't understand what Kara was talking about.
Rather than being surprised, when she looked at her for an explanation. However, the expression was gone from her beautiful face, and she was filled with contempt for the person who had ordered it.
Perhaps amused by her reaction, Kara wiped her glasses and explained while checking her clothes properly. She didn't hear it though.
It was no exaggeration to say that the seat of the "bishop" consists of several people who control the religion.
The person in charge of that position had asked a "scientist" for a magic potion called an "aphrodisiac". It was disturbing.
It was interesting to see such a discrepancy between its inner and outer image. It was so funny that she couldn't help but laugh at it.
"……Filthy."
"Haha. Don't say that, Saint. If men and women don't get in the mood, the human race won't multiply―― even if it is an old man about to reach 80 years old and can't suppress his instincts. Even if he gets excited, if the woman doesn't come into heat, it's a meaningless feeling. It's only natural that such an old man would want a tool to get a woman in heat."
Hehe*.
Kara laughed, sincerely amused, and left the room, shaking her long, unkempt hair.
Jenna followed her back with her eyes, and once again looked at the aphrodisiac on the desk as though she were looking at dirt before following her.
"Ah, the potion. Are you sure it's okay to leave it on the desk?"
"It's fine. I'm the only one who knows how to make it, so they can't duplicate it――"
After saying that, Kara pointed to her head, squinting behind her glasses.
"I know how to make it, it's in my head. I don't want to tell anyone how to make something like that, because I'm a woman too."
With that, Jenna and Kara left the research tower.
They were heading to the place where Alp and her companions had been attacked by the slime.
